Methanol to olefins (MTO) reaction is the key process of olefin production from coal or natural gas resources, which is a substitute of oil route. SAPO-34 molecular sieve exhibits excellent performance in MTO reaction, due to its small pore, suitable acidity and good thermal/hydrothermal stability. Research on the modification of SAPO-34 can not only help to improve its catalytic properties, but also benefit to better understand the reaction mechanism. The present article reviews various modification methods of SAPO-34 used as MTO catalyst, such as steam treatment, selective poisoning of acid sites, metal modification, ship-in-a-bottle method, silanization modification, F(-) modification and nitridation modification, etc. The further research directions are also discussed.